TotalEnergiesCAFCL: Plateau United arrive Tunis for Esperance

One of Nigeria’s representatives in this season’s TotalEnergiesCAFCL, Plateau United on Thursday evening arrived in Tunis, the Tunisian capital ahead of a make-or-mar clash with Esperance Sportive du Tunis.

United won the first leg encounter between both sides 2-1 in Abuja on Sunday and have now taken the slender advantage to Tunis for Saturday’s return leg against the former champions.

A 37-man contingent comprising of players, coaches and other officials touched down at the Carthage International Airport, Tunis at about 4pm local time ahead of Saturday’s game.

All players in the match day squad for United in the first leg game at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Sunday made the trip with the exception of Douglas Eru who is replaced by Mustapha Abdullahi.

Plateau United have never in their history gone beyond the second round of Africa’s flagship club football competition and were beaten by a Tunisian club Etoile du Sahel at this stage in 2018, 4-3 on aggregate.

“The game is still 50-50. What we are going to do in Tunisia, we’re going to come out. We’re not going to defend because we understand that it’s a game where anything less than winning or drawing or playing penalties may result in us going out of the competition,” United head coach Fidelis Ilechukwu told www.aclsports.com

United recovered from going behind to Anice Badri’s effort (for Esperance) in Abuja to win 2-1 courtesy of Ifeanyi Onyebuchi and Ibrahim Mustapha Yuga’s first half headers.

The return leg slated for the Olympic Stadium in Sousse will kick-off at 5pm Nigerian time on Saturday with the winner on aggregate claiming a place in the lucrative group stage of the Champions League while the loser drops down to the CAF Confederation Cup.